Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
Next week will mark 28 years since China regained sovereignty of Hong Kong. And since then, the future of Hong Kong has been tested time and again by adversaries hell bent to secure its failure. They all failed.
This can be attributed to the unity of Hong Kong people, the rule of law and good governance.
Almost weekly Hong Kong success stories unfold in international studies and comparative analysis. Only last week the University of Hong Kong was ranked 11 out of 1,500 higher education institutions world-wide for its academic reputation and citations per faculty by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) academic experts. The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Science and Technology were also ranked 32nd and 44th respectively. The Education Department said the rankings reflected Hong Kong’s “attractiveness as a hub for international talent.”
Also last week, Hong Kong has been ranked the third-most competitive economy in the world, advancing two spots from last year, according to the 2025 World Competitiveness Yearbook released by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
And this week, the often named the “Oscars of the Aviation Industry,” Skytrax announced that Hong Kong’s own, Cathay Pacific Airways performed well, winning multiple titles, including the best economy class 2024, the cleanest airline, as well as 5th in the overall airline rankings.
The accolades just keep rolling in. The IMD Yearbook 2025 ranked Hong Kong 6th in the world for economic performance, a massive jump of its 36th placing in 2023, and 7th place for its infrastructure, up six points from its 2023 ranking.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said Hong Kong’s scores, both in overall terms and in many specific areas, have improved, showing that the Hong Kong SAR Government’s policy course is the right one, with various policies already yielding clear results.
Highlighting that the city ranks second globally on government efficiency, he said this reflects the inherent excellence and competence of the city’s civil servants and indicates that policies designed to make the government more result-oriented are bearing fruit.
In addition, noting that Hong Kong also ranks second globally on business efficiency, Lee said this reflects business leaders’ positive views of Hong Kong’s competitiveness and of its strengths, including the rule of law, a simple tax system and low tax rates, and the free flow of capital, information, goods and talent.
Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO) in Beijing, Xia Baolong, said at the opening ceremony of a forum marking the national security law’s fifth anniversary on June 21 that the law was the city’s “guardian,” adding that Hong Kong should use the rule of law to safeguard “high-quality development.”
The implementation of the national security law over the past five years has demonstrated that it is a “good law with significant historical and practical importance,” he said.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Algernon Yau, said in an RTHK interview that the influx of non-local firms to Hong Kong has accelerated in recent months despite the sweeping tariffs imposed by the United States, demonstrating continued confidence in the city.
In the interview which marks the 28th anniversary of the SAR’s establishment, as well as the first three years of Lee's administration, Yau said Hong Kong has attracted 319 companies to set up shop in the SAR during the first five months of the year, with the firms' investment in the SAR totalling HK$26.5 billion, along with the creation of 6,500 jobs.
The tariff war has done nothing to slow the trend. While the government's investment promotion agency InvestHK has attracted 223 foreign businesses to expand to the SAR for the first four months of the year, the figure suddenly rose by another 96 in May alone – representing a 43-percent jump on the overall figure for 2025.
But we must not be complacent nor rest on our laurels. Xia and other speakers at the forum warned that foreign forces, particularly the US, are still lurking in the background to undermine Hong Kong’s successes with an aim to dismantling the one country two systems concept of governance.
Mark Pinkstone
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Mark Pinkstone/Former Chief Information Officer of HK government
Hong Kong has done it again, this time in the Arab world where it has been deemed the “Most Promising Muslim-Friendly Destination for the Year” and placed third among the non-Organization of Islamic Cooperation Destinations (non-OIC), according to the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI).
It was also placed first in the Muslim-Friendly Accessible Destination (non-OIC) category and second place in the Muslim Women Friendly Destination (non-IOC) category.
According to Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, these international accolades fully recognize Hong Kong’s efforts in promoting Halal tourism.
And indeed, it does. The number of Halal-certified restaurants has surged from about 100 at the beginning of 2024 to about 190 today. Additionally, more than 60 hotels, attractions, and convention venues have received the “Crescent Rating” for Muslim-friendly services. Crescent Rating is a Singapore-based organization that researches Halal travel. The service predicts that by 2030, the Muslim traveller expenditure will reach US$235 billion world-wide.
During a trip to the Middle East in February, Lee met Vice-President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to discuss bilateral trade arrangements. The trip was so successful that Lee has decided to establish a Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Dubai.
He said the UAE is a key partner in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has developed several major projects in the Middle East, adding that Hong Kong possesses the necessary supporting facilities for the projects and can provide financing support, as well as any architectural design and related professional services that are required.
The UAE was Hong Kong’s 11th largest trading partner in the world, with bilateral trade exceeding US$135 billion and surpassing all European countries.
As of November 2022, there were 36 companies in Hong Kong representing parent companies located in the UAE, in which four of them are regional headquarters.
Hong Kong has become such an important trading and financial hub for the Arab countries that they have even established their own financial index linked to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Known as the HK Islamic Index (HKII), it was established by the Arab Chamber of Commerce to support Hong Kong's ambitions to develop it into a Shariah-compliant, Islamic banking and financial centre and was the first time a chamber of commerce had taken the initiative to create its own equity index. Reuters, Bloomberg, and Quamnet have been contracted to disseminate the HK Islamic Index. The HKII comprises of 78 companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with 39 each from Hong Kong and mainland China. It has a market capitalization of HK$9,483.4 billion.
Shariah-compliant refers to financial practices and investments that adhere to Islamic law, prohibiting interest and unethical activities while promoting social responsibility. Its investments are governed by the principles of Shariah law, which is derived from the Quran and Hadith. It includes, among other things, prohibition of riba (interest) meaning that the charging or paying interest is strictly forbidden in Shariah-compliant finance. Instead, profit-sharing arrangements are encouraged, where investors share in the profits and losses of their investments.
According to the last 2016 census, Islam is practiced by 4.1 per cent of Hong Kong’s population, or about 300,000 Muslims, of which, 50,000 are Chinese, 150,000 are Indonesians and 30,000 are Pakistanis, with the rest from the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Lee and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which has made a couple of trips to the Middle East in recent times can see the value of the Arab countries to Hong Kong in bilaterial relations to boost the Belt and Road Initiative. But more has to be done to instill confidence in trading with Hong Kong.
Lee has suggested increased training with hotel receptionists and waiters learning Arabic as well as those in airline check-in counters. However, if the government is sincere in promoting Arabic language courses, perhaps it can reconsider its policy to provide subsidies to the Continuing Education Fund to reimburse those picking up the language at HKU SPACE as it does with other languages such as English, Japanese, Korean etc.
There have also been suggestions from the Arab Chamber of Commerce that banks could be more Arab-friendly and Chinese Embassies stationed in the Middle East could be more forthcoming in issuing visas to visit Hong Kong.
